Bras for Breast Cancer

November 22, 2010

An adult toy store in Woonsocket is hoping to break the world record for the most number of bras strung together, all in the name of raising money for breast cancer research.

Athena’s Home Novelties has apparently been working on this mission for more than a year. The store asks people to slip five dollars in with their donated bras with the hope that the proceeds will add up to half a million in funds for cancer research. Organizers cheekily call the effort Athena’s Cup.

According to Athena’s Cup’s blog, progress has been slow. The original hope was to collect 169,000 bras between October 1st 2009 and January 2010. That didn’t work. So then October 10, 2010 was the new deadline. At that point, the total number hovered around 40,000. So, once again the organizers have set a new end date- October 10, 2011.

Jennifer Jolicoeur, the President of Athena’s, writes that she’s not discouraged-Athena’s Cup has already raised almost $45,000 dollars in donations. Her blog post says

On a daily basis I get letters, cards and emails from women who are touched by our efforts. It is no longer about the destination. It is about the journey.

Athena’s is doing whatever it can to collect more bras, from “bingo for bras” to a “Athena’s Cup haircut-a-thon.” Let’s see if another year is enough to break the record.